Children with dysfunction of the right heart chamber (ventricle), which pumps blood to the lungs, have lower tolerance to exercise and at risk of sudden cardiac death in more severe cases. This dysfunction usually sets in progressively and detection at earlier stages is crucial to guiding therapies and interventions that improve symptoms and survival. New ultrasound techniques, makes it easier detect and quantify the problem.

Aortic valve stenosis is a narrowing of the valve that separates the left ventricle from the aorta. A reduced opening increases the effort required by the left ventricle to pump blood. Being a degenerative disease, patients with aortic stenosis must undergo a clinical follow-up, which is usually performed by ultrasound. At the Centre of Innovative Ultrasound Solutions (CIUS), we are developing a new method that exploits 3-D high frame-rate imaging to increase the degree of automation in aortic stenosis flow measurements. The goal is to speed up the workflow in the clinics and increase the accuracy of measurements.

Despite constant improvements within the field of medical ultrasound, there are still a considerable number of difficult-to-image patient. Echocardiograms (heart images) taken from these patients do not have the quality that is needed for correct diagnosis. Therefore it is important to further improve the quality of echocardiograms.

Researchers discovered over 140 genetic changes associated with atrial fibrillation, a common, adult-onset cardiac arrhythmia. The results were surprising in that they also identified a number of genes that control heart development in the fetus.

Many potential heart patients that are referred to specialists, turn out not to need specialist care. If general practitioners (GPs) could use handheld ultrasound devices with built-in diagnostic tools, could this improve patient outcome and reduce cost for the health services?

Coronary heart disease is a condition where the heart muscle (myocardium) does not receive enough oxygen and nutrients due to obstruction of blood flow in the heart’s blood vessels, known as the coronary arteries. It is therefore important to investigate the blood flow in these vessels. However, it is challenging to obtain accurate measurements due to the combination of poor blood flow, the constant movement of the heart throughout the cardiac cycle, and surrounding tissue causing noise signals.

Artificial intelligence can now help clinicians by automatically measuring the heart in ultrasound images. This can save time and may in the future enable inexperienced users to perform accurate measurements of the heart.

Are you in a bad shape, struggling with depressive symptoms, or struggling with both? Our research on 15,000 middle-aged and older people who participated in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, shows that improving fitness or depressive symptoms can be very important for our health, even at a higher age.

Using a new ultrasound technique, we have been able to visualize and measure how efficiently blood flows through the heart chambers in young children with congenital heart disease. We studied 37 children aged two weeks to 10 years, and among the 26 children, which had congenital heart disease, we found less efficient hearts, meaning they use more energy than a normal heart.